Deputy Mayor not authorised to speak on Council’s behalf – Mayor

City parking meters

By Ramona Luthi

Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase Green has revealed that the comments of Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan on the issue of parking meters in the city are reflective of his own views and not those of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC).

The Mayor made the disclosure on Tuesday when this newspaper sought clarity from her on a contradiction between Duncan’s comments and that of the contractor with respect to ownership of the meters and revenues that would be collected.
According to Chase Green, the only persons with authority to speak on the Council’s behalf were the Town Clerk, Royston King or the Public Relations Officer, Debra Lewis.

“The Deputy Mayor speaks of his own personal reservation. He doesn’t speak on behalf of the Council. The only persons that can speak on behalf of the Council are the Town Clerk and Public Relations Officer,” the Mayor said.
This statement comes after Duncan on Saturday said that the installation of parking meters, which was said to begin in September, would be a contracted agreement inherited from the previous Administration. The Deputy Mayor highlighted that though there was an intended partnership between the city and the contractor, Smart City Solutions, the latter would be the sole owner of the meters.
Prior to this revelation by the Deputy Mayor, Guyana Times spoke with Chairman of National Parking Meters and the Director of Smart City Solutions, Kamau Cush who announced that the city of Georgetown would benefit from the parking meters with an annual income of $100 to $200 million. However, Duncan contradicted this statement by relaying that the city would instead be receiving a standard 20 per cent gross income accumulated by the parking systems.
In response to this, Cush confirmed that Duncan’s statement held some truth with regard to the percentage of income for City Hall, but contended that the city would be 50 per cent owners of the parking system project.
The Deputy Mayor said although he was of the opinion that the installation of the parking meter system would benefit the city, thorough consultations must be done before this huge step was taken by the M&CC.
“The architecture of such policy must be the construct of several stakeholders, chief of which consultation, on every facet of such a plan and project with members of the public and their elected representatives, is paramount. And that consultation should be meaningful. I have no illusion that our municipality needs investment like this. Yet, even as investments are important, we have the responsibility as good stewards of our city to make sure we have the best investments for all the residents of Georgetown,” Duncan had said.